Roasting turkeys since January
River Cottage’s Lucy Brazier loves Christmas time so much
Christmas is known for being the most wonderful time of year, and that couldn’t be more true for Lucy Brazier from River Cottage. She wrote Christmas At River Cottage during England’s third lockdown in early 2021, which involved cooking and eating at least three turkeys. “There are probably very few people who could really get through it and still be excited about Christmas,” she says with a laugh. “And I am one them – I probably was the right person to write it because I’m clinging onto the magic.”
Brazier has worked with chef and telly presenter Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall at River Cottage for over a decade, and now she’s finally bringing her festive dreams to life in the cookbook, which is full of Christmas recipes, craft activities and more.
For Brazier, a love of Christmas runs in the family: “My mother’s really good at it, and my grandmother was as well,” she says. “So I was brought up in a house where it was the finale of the year and we saved up so everything was special and magical, and we had a lot of food. It’s sort of classic working-class, saving all year to throw a bit of a party at the end.”
Now cooking and organising duties fall on her, Brazier admits Christmas is quite different. “I still want that buzz I had when I was a child – that true excitement, which I think you only get when you’re not the one doing Christmas,” she says wistfully. “But I always try and find that moment in whatever I’m doing.” There are a few perks of being an adult during the festive period; for starters you can drink mulled cider (“a massive plus”) as well as being allowed to “open the fridge and eat what you want”, she says.
When you’re a dedicated Christmas lover, it’s certainly not a last-minute affair. Brazier started preparations in September, both at home and at River Cottage, by stacking the larder with “lots of treats – pickles and chutneys and things we can then pull out”. Then came Stirup Sunday, the last Sunday in November when you make your Christmas pudding. “That’s the start of Christmas proper for me,” explains Brazier. “I stir up my pudding and make some mincemeat for the mince pies – that’s the signal it’s going to start. But I have already got a lot in the larder… No one wants to get to the middle of December and think, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got this massive list of things to do’ – when in fact you can reach into the cupboard and get out your chutneys and pickled cabbage, it’s quite handy.”
Despite her diligent preparations, Brazier admits things will still likely go wrong on the day. “Every Christmas is not perfect,” she says, and is not here to tell you there’s a magic fix to make everything go smoothly.
lChristmas At River Cottage by Lucy Brazier and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is published by Bloomsbury Publishing, priced £22.